1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrying apparatus which carries a sample such as blood.
2. Description of the Related Art
A sample processing system which processes a sample such as blood has been suggested. The sample processing system of this type has a processing apparatus which processes the sample, and a carrying apparatus which carries the sample to the processing apparatus. The carrying apparatus has a sample holder which holds the sample, and a carrying path to carry the sample holder to the processing apparatus. The sample is housed in a container such as a test tube. The sample holder removably holds the test tube.
A structure that uses a carrying belt has been suggested as the structure of the carrying path. A carrying path of this type has a belt to mount the sample holder, and a belt driver which drives the carrying belt.
The carrying belt is an endless belt which is formed into a ring shape by way of example. The belt driver rotates to move on the carrying belt in its circumferential direction. If the carrying belt is rotated, the sample holder moves in response to the movement of the carrying belt. As a result, the sample holder is carried. A carrying apparatus of this type has been disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 4522463.
The above-mentioned carrying apparatus has the following problems: In the sample processing apparatus, multiple sample holders are generally mounted on one carrying belt to process multiple sample holders. Therefore, when a predetermined sample holder is stopped at a predetermined position on the carrying path, the driving of the carrying belt is not stopped, but a stopper, for example, is used to stop the predetermined sample holder alone at the predetermined position. The sample holder is held by the stopper to stop the movement of the sample holder. In this case, the carrying belt is driven to carry other samples.
Thus, friction is generated between the carrying belt and the sample holder which is stopped by the stopper. The carrying belt is worn by this friction. If the carrying belt is further worn, the carrying belt will be replaced. A higher replacement frequency of the carrying belt increases costs.